The women’s ice hockey team had an inconsistent weekend, falling to No. 2 Cornell University on Friday, then coming from behind to win against Colgate University on Saturday. The Big Green (5-13-1, 4-8-1 ECAC) was shut out against Cornell (14-2-3, 9-1-2 ECAC) 3-0. Dartmouth rallied from a one goal first period deficit to beat Colgate (5-17-2, 2-10-0 ECAC) 4-2 on Saturday.
Friday’s game started off poorly for the Big Green. Just 59 seconds into the first period, the team was called for its first penalty, a two minute minor for tripping by Lindsey Allen ’16, giving Cornell a power play.
“We didn’t come out as strong as we had hoped,” Katy Ratty ’17 said. “They capitalized on our mistakes, and we couldn’t put the puck in the net.”
The Big Red did not score on this advantage, but it helped set the stage for a heavily penalized contest. The teams combined for 23 penalties in the game, the Big Green going 0-10 on the power play while the home team cashed in on one of its nine opportunities.
“Cornell is the kind of team you really don’t want to go short-handed against,” goalie and co-captain Lindsay Holdcroft ’14 said. “They’ve got a pretty great power play unit, so actually our penalty kill did a good job.”
Dartmouth was then called for two consecutive penalties, which kept the team from developing rhythm.
“It’s hard to get anything going when every few minutes we’re stopping and it’s five-on-three then four-on-three,” Ratty said. “It’s not something we’re used to playing, so we’re kind of just improvising.”
The third of these penalties, an interference call against Emma Korbs ’17, proved to be deadly for the Big Green, as Cornell sophomore Taylor Woods put one past Holdcroft for the 1-0 lead.
Dartmouth committed one more penalty in the frame as Sam Zeiss ’15 was sent off for interference. The Big Red committed two penalties at the end of the frame, but the Big Green could not capitalize, despite nearly 1:10 of 5-on-3 hockey.
“The first period was pretty rough,” Ratty said, “but in the second and third period we stuck more to our systems, we were a little more intense, and we got after it a little more.”
About halfway through the second, Woods tallied her second of the game. The first 15 minutes of the third saw 10 penalties combined, but neither team could capitalize on the chances. With under four minutes left, sophomore Jess Brown tallied the Big Red’s third goal of the game.
Dartmouth fired 26 shots on net, while the Big Red fired 38. Holdcroft finished the game with 35 saves, one of her better games of the year.
“Definitely in the first period they got a lot [of shots] through their power play chances,” Holdcroft said. “As the game went on we kind of got into a rhythm. They definitely controlled the play a little bit more, but I think as the game progressed we kind of found our rhythm a bit.”
Saturday evening’s game in Hamilton, N.Y., yielded a much better outcome for the Big Green women. The 4-2 victory over Colgate came on the strength of a three-goal second period, boosting the team’s confidence.
“We knew that Colgate was a team that we really needed to beat,” Ratty said. “We really came into the weekend wanting those two points from Colgate, so we definitely didn’t let the first goal get us down.”
After allowing Colgate to score halfway through the first period, Dartmouth notched three consecutive second period goals by Ratty, Lauren Kelly ’14 and Lindsey Allen ’16. In the middle frame, the Big Green outshot the Raiders 20-6 and dominated every facet of the game.
“In the first period we did have opportunities to score, but we were getting the gritty goals, being tough and getting the second chance,” head coach Mark Hudak said. “I think all three goals were off rebounds. It was just good hard work in front of the net and finishing on the second chances. That was the big difference.”
Ratty put the Big Green on the board about six minutes in to the frame off of assists from Ali Winkel ’14 and Karlee Odland ’15. Six minutes later, Kelly fired home a pass from Allen. With under a minute to go in the period, Allen scored off of assists from Laura Stacey ’16 and Catherine Berghuis ’16.
Colgate managed to sneak a goal in at the beginning of the third period, but it couldn’t keep up the momentum. The Big Green kept Colgate out of the net for the rest of the game and sealed the victory with a fourth goal with just 22 seconds of play remaining. Stacey notched her second of the season on an empty net while on the power play.
Even though Dartmouth gave up six power plays, it killed all of them, continuing to play tough and smart defense.
“It’s all about discipline and knowing where you’re supposed to be and how to play each situation,” Ratty said. “We’re pretty good at it, so we’re pretty confident going into the penalty kill.”
The team also picked its offense back up after a less-than-stellar display on Friday; Dartmouth had 34 shots on goal in the winning effort.
“We were going into Cornell hoping we could maybe steal a game,” Holdcroft said. “With Colgate we felt it would be a really gritty game, they’re a pretty tough team, they play a pretty gritty style, so I think we knew it was a game we definitely could win, but we knew it would be a close game.”
With the up-and-down trip to New York in the books, Dartmouth is now preparing for two home games against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday at 7 p.m. and Union College on Saturday at 4 p.m. The team lost to Union 3-0 before defeating RPI 3-1 earlier this season.
